When going to a location such as a beach, it is often customary to bring along an umbrella for shade. In the prior art, such an umbrella included a pointed shaft. The pointed shaft was inserted into the sand. The user of the umbrella would attempt to push the umbrella as deeply as possible into the sand to prevent the umbrella from being knocked out of the sand by a strong gust of wind.
Unfortunately, such attempts to maintain the umbrella in place have not been successful. Specifically, it is known to experience a strong gust of wind which knocks the umbrella out of place. As a result, the umbrella may be flung along the beach, causing a potential safety hazard.
In an attempt to rectify this problem, various augers have been developed. An exemplary auger is illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,699 (Perreault et al.). As disclosed, the auger includes a first end with a screw thread at a first end of a shaft. A second end of the shaft includes an opening. A plurality of handles extend perpendicularly from the shaft and near the opening. In operation, the thread member is held against the sand and the handles are rotated, thus causing the auger to be screwed into the sand. After the auger has been screwed into the sand, a beach umbrella may be inserted into the opening. In this manner, the end of the beach umbrella is able to extend a considerable distance below the top surface of the sand.